Dreamcatcher

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding
Review: Stephen King has done exactly what I wanted him to do . . . tell me a story. The subject matter was complex and done with a deft hand and the Down's syndrome was handled with courage and integrity. Not one false pull for a tear, but truth as seen through those who lived the experience. I can't help but think if I were to wander through any of the locations he has written about, I would run into his "characters" in flesh and blood. Thank you for writing, Mr. King.

Rating:
Summary: Extreme Patience Needed...
Review: I love Steven King! This novel, however, was a disappointment. I could not wait for it to arrive and begin reading it. It started off great and then for about two hundred or more pages it really dragged on and on. I was determined to finish the book to the end but it took me a very long time to get to that point. I found it confusing and boring for two thirds of it; gripping and exciting for one third of it. The plot had so much more potential but something was definitely missing. I was delighted to see that Mr. King chose a young man with special needs to be the hero, that in itself was a great thing. Thank you for that Mr. King.

Rating:
Summary: Where's Mulder and Scully?
Review: Mr. King leads you from the natural to the supernatural in his crafty, inimitable style. Before you know it, the hook is set, and you are experiencing the X-Files along with the Alien all in one maudlin, convoluted yarn. Most of the key characters are well developed and are either endearing or exquisitely despicable. At the end you feel as though you want more of these people and their adventures. The story rambles in places, drippy and sentimental, and even though I am still unclear as to some of the "reality" of the story, I don't want to go through the exhausting particulars again. The tale is seasoned with the usual abundance of explicit violence and gore - definitely not for the timid or squeamish! The epilogue gave me a warm fuzzy and closure, but it was a weak device. It seemed unnecessary, as I believe the story could have been concluded with the fate of the heroes revealed at the end. It is not one of my favorite works from Mr. King. Notable is the narrator, Jeffrey Demunn, who reads well and whose Yankee twang adds a lot to the experience.

Rating:
Summary: A Let Down
Review: I'm a huge King fan. I've read every single one of his novels, most of his short stories, and will continue to read everything the man writes. Dreamcatcher, however, was a rank dissapointment (no pun intended). It reminds me of King's of a the stretch in King's career when he wrote Gerald's Game and Dolores Claiborne. After such literary attempts as Bag of Bones and On Writing, this is a huge disapointment.

I was wary as soon as I learned the premise. Aliens? Again? Didn't we already put up with The Tommyknockers, which, though not a bad book, not a stand-out either. But what King fan can decide not to read one of his books? I plunged into it despite my misgivings.

I knew the book had problems early on when it wasn't clear who our main character was. Eventually, King whittles it down to two main characters, but the reader is never really able to empathize with either of them.

Then we get the "$&^@ weasels." Far from being frightened, I couldn't stop laughing at these things. And from there on, ridiculous situations continued to snowball.

Well, enough of trashing my favorite author. The book wasn't all that bad. Still better than 70% of the swill that gets published on the force and style of the narrative alone. King can still spin a tale, he can still write and bring the reader into the world of the story. The only problem is I don't think this was a good story. Maybe it just went on for too long, stretched for countless pages while very little time progressed in the book.

So, to sum up, King fans will read and some will enjoy it more than other, but I think we can all agree this is far from King's best.

P.S. to Mr. King: WE'RE DYING FOR MORE OF THE DARK TOWER!!

Rating:
Summary: Not as good as "The Shining"
Review: The first King novel that I read was "The Shining" and from that point i decided that I would become an avid reader of Stephen King. So when "Dreamcatcher" was released I did not hestitate in purchasing it.

Overall, I felt this book was entertaining. Many times during the course of the reading, I found myself wanting to skip ahead a few pages to find out what happens next. King seems to overindulge the reader with long descriptions that cause the reader to lose sight of the novels story.

Also, the action and the movement of the plot is inconsistent throughoput the book. We are introduced to the four friends and then introduced to the "alien-like" creature. At this point it seems as if the book was about to get increasingly interesting. However, I realized there was about 300 more pages of material to read.

I would recommend this book if there is nothing else that you really want to read sitting on the end table.

Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable
Review: I haven't read King in a while, but found an alien invasion story irrestiable. I wasn't disappointed. He writes very fluidly, and the story was imaginative. IMO the only drawback is that some of the characters, even the main ones, were a bit shallowly drawn (which is amazing in a 600+ page novel) but the story was riveting. There was a stretch of about 50 pages that just absolutely gave me the willies. The last book I read that had any really disguting stuff in it was Hanniabl, but Dreamcatcher is so much better. Whereas Hannibal just grossed me out, Dreamcatcher freaked me out. That's a big difference I think, and much more fun. I should also say that I'm male, and King does the guy bonding thing pretty well.

Rating:
Summary: Not his best work
Review: Maybe I've read too many Stephen King novels over the years but the end of this book was just too predictable. I won't spoil it for the rest of you by giving it away but you'll probably figure it out about halfway. That wouldn't have bothered me so much if the narrative in between the beginning in the end had been better. There were some good parts but the book just didn't seem to flow like his other ones. If you've never read Stephen King before (and if not, what planet are you from?) do not start with this one

Rating:
Summary: something old, something new
Review: This is classic King at his finest- spooky and other-worldly, hearkening back to IT and The Dead Zone, while keeping a level of the new-found spirituality that his more recent works like Insomnia have been full of. King wrote this one in longhand from his hospital bed shortly after being hit by a car, and though his physical ailments may not mar the quality of writing, the mental scars are readily apparent. When we follow a character out into a busy street without looking, we know exactly what is to come, and when we experience the crash, the cracking of bones and the hard pavement not just once but again and again, we get the feeling King isn't looking for sympathy, just drawing on hard-earned experience for that extra level of realism.

The core of this story is an examination of the heart of darkness, the deus ex machina, the dark side inside of us all, disguised as an X-Files episode. But while the sudden appearance of those trusty sci-fi cliches, the big eyed, slender bodied aliens, or as King calls them the "gray boys", may at first be off-putting, one gets the feeling that King is far too good for that sort of thing, and there must be something deeper going on here. Indeed, even if there wasn't, these time-tested archetypes getting a new Stephen King twist might be enough to satisfy some readers. But when the truth is revealed (as Mulder would say) about their true nature in a short but regrettably mundane epilogue, the idea is satisfying, thought provoking, and upsetting all at the same time

Also like classic King, there is a generous dose of good old monster movie gore here- it does not feel gratuitous, per se, but it is certainly graphic. Add in the profanities that flow freely and frequently from the characters' mouths, and this is not a book for kids. King fans will find a lot to like here, but those new to the genre may the complex narrative a bit tiring and may be better off trying one of King's 'classic' stories to get their feet wet. Its not always easy to tell what is happening here: what is a dream, and what is a memory, or in fact if those distinctions even matter as we jump from timeline to timeline and plot device to plot device. But that is exactly what the author wants: to explore the way people dream, think and remember, and when the dream is perhaps more real that the reality.

Rating:
Summary: Has the well run dry?
Review: Like many other people who have written their reviews, I too am a huge Stephen King fan. I have read 95% of his books (including the first 6 installments of the Plant - which is excellent) - and therefore I have a lot of experience to draw on to say that this book is truly a disappointment.

The premise of this book was exciting...four childhood friends gathering together in a hunting lodge to bond and remember their childhood days and the mysterious connection that they had with "Duddits"- a child hood friend with down syndrome. However, when your started throwing in "sh*t weasels", aliens, bacon, fungus, and a random car accident, and most random of all a Russian woman attempting to contaminate the water of an entire town...it becomes tiresome. Because I had just read "It" (again) right before this I was truly expecting something of that caliber, but I was disappointed.

What has always made Stephen King an excellent novelist was not only his ability to tell a riveting, story...but was his ability to mix the horrors of fiction with the wit of everyday life. Moreover, the skill with which he develops charcters and makes them three dimentional has always been the hallmark of his writing...yet he fails miserably here. With the concentration on the action of the army, and the aliens, King neglects to develop his characters as he usually does. We receive such token character development of Jonesy and Henry that I am shocked and disappointed to realize that they are the main characters 200 pages into the book. They seem very empty and token.

Moreover, with all the flashbacks, all the pieces do not fit together. Its as if he had many different ideas swirling around, but they didn't connect into one all emcompassing story. King was treading on the surface of several stories, but not delving into the depths to tie them all together. The best way to describe it, is that it is a superficial read.

Finally, King's conclusion does not follow with his other works. Instead of ending that lays all the characters to rest, this story just kind of got tired, gave up, and died.

I will end this review saying that I am still a huge Stephen King fan, and despite some of his more recent disappointments (Dreamcatcher, Bag of Bones, and Hearts of Atlantis)...I will continue to purchase the next book that comes out, with the hope that the well has not run dry...yet.

Rating:
Summary: Average
Review: I had a hard time liking this book but I also had a hard time hating it. The book started with an interesting premise and then shifted to humdrum storytelling. Don't get me wrong there were several creative aspects, including an interesting pyschological battle. But there wasn't much else. The story seemed to stall and start towards the end, making it a tedious read. King's books are not racing thrillers but this book defied everything his books usually entail. I usually really enjoy the characters and can't wait for the conclusion but this time I might have cared less. In my opinion this book should have been shorter. A lot of complex situations interwoven can leave a reader feeling deeply satisfied when it is all over but this time it all lackd something. If you haven't read all of his other books read one you haven't already, they are better. If you must have it, check it out at the library or wait for paperback.